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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

LFF2015: Frame By Frame (2015)

“So are you going to use this picture and try to
bomb the Americans…?”

Frame
by Frame is about the
modern history of Afghanistan told through the eyes of four passionate
photographers, Najibullah Musafer, a
photography lecturer at Kabul university;
Wakil Kohsar, a photojournalist and democrat; and then husband and wife
photojournalists Farzana Wahidy,who covers women’s stories, and Massoud Hossaini who won the 2012
Breaking News Photography Pulitzer Prize (Here is
his Talk at a Kabul TED event).

The film begins by explaining the rise
of the Taliban after the soviet invasion of 1979, and how they banned
photography for the next twenty years until the US invasion in 2001, leading to
the beginning of a new era of press freedoms (and harsh internal
terrorism).We then follow Wakil as he
explores the upcoming elections and voter registration, Farzana documenting the
heinous violence inflicted on women under the Taliban era and Massoud covering
various events for the newsdesk where he works.

Each of the photographers has a
reverential attitude towards the power of images and the capturing of
moments.And this is enhanced throughout
Frame by Frame as some of Najibullah’s
lectures on how to ‘see’ through photography and how to read images are edited
throughout the narrative.This gives the
viewer an extra appreciation for the pictures on screen – we are present as the
photographers take their images, and then we are told how to decode them.

Picture sourced from The Guardian

The most famous picture being Massoud’s
2012 Pulitzer image of a bombing that killed a number of children during the
Islamic celebration of Ashura.Massoud
just happened to be present during the terrible explosion and had to decide
between running for cover or staying and documenting the mayhem – and it was
this dedication to journalism that got him recognised for the prize.Yet, the work of Walik in rural areas
documenting the impoverished citizens being registered for their first ever
elections, or Farzana’s work with women who have been terribly abused by their
husbands under the Taliban regime, are both equally as insightful and
important.

Yet for all of the harrowing, newsworthy
images of terrorism and appalling violence that Western viewers are used to
seeing of Afghanistan, directors Alexandria
Bomback and Mo Scarpelli also reflect
the middle class comforts of the country.Just like every other urban couple around the world, Farzana and Massoud
still have go shopping for energy drinks and a dizzying amount of hair products
before deciding between Blu-Rays of The
Hangover part 2 or Oz: The Great and
Powerful…

The Afghan’s, after the Taliban’s
photography ban, are now using photography to capture the state of the country
and their cultural identity – from beautiful images of the landscapes, to the uncomfortable
epidemic of heroin addicts in the streets.Scarpelli and Bomback’s film is a celebration of ‘now’, those decisive
moments captured through film.And the
hope that those moments lean more towards expressions of joy than explosions of
violence.